Top seed Martina Hingis continues her march towards a third straight singles title with a meeting against No. 16 Barbara Schett of Austria.

Hingis, the 1998 champion, is 10-0 lifetime against Schett, dropping just two of 22 sets. She owns a nine-match winning streak and a season record of 26-2 after capturing the Qatar Open and Dubai Open in the Middle East last month for a WTA Tour-leading three titles this season.

In January, Hingis defeated Lindsay Davenport to win the title at Sydney and lost to Jennifer Capriati in the Australian Open final before falling to Davenport in the final at Tokyo. The 20-year-old from Switzerland has reached the final in each of the five events she has played in 2001.

Davenport, the second seed, takes on fellow American 20th-seeded Lisa Raymond as she bids to become the first three-time champion at this event. She has never lost to Raymond in nine lifetime meetings.

A week ago, Davenport won the State Farm Classic at Scottsdale, Arizona for her 32nd career title and second this year. The victory moved her within 1,250 points of Hingis for the top spot in the WTA Tour rankings. Davenport could move even closer by successfully defending her title.

Last year, she defeated Hingis in a three-set final and also took the title in 1997.

Third seed Venus Williams of the United States goes against lucky loser Rachel McQuillan of Australia.

The reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion, Williams began 2001 by reaching the Australian Open semifinals before suffering a humiliating 6-1, 6-0 loss to Hingis. She also reached the semifinals at Nice, France before suffering a knee injury.

Seventh-seeded Serena Williams battles No. 12 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria on Monday night. She is playing her first tournament since losing to Hingis in the Australian Open quarterfinals. Williams withdrew from events in Paris and Scottsdale due to exhaustion and the flu.

Also, eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia takes on her countrywoman, qualifier Lina Krasnoroutskaya; No. 11 Anke Huber of Germany battles Silvia Farina Elia of Italy; and No. 14 Kim Clijsters of Belgium faces Ai Sugiyama of Japan.

Only five of the 15 men's first-round matches feature seeded players.

Sampras, the third seed and a two-time champion, will try to snap a three-match losing streak Monday when he plays Germany's David Prinosil. The former world No. 1 has not won a match since reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open.

However, Sampras is 2-0 lifetime against Prinosil and 22-10 all-time here.

Agassi battles Hichaem Arazi on Monday night, hoping to gain a bit of revenge for a loss to the Moroccan here last year. Seeded fourth and a two-time runnerup, Agassi fell to Arazi in three sets last year to even the all-time series at 1-1.

Eighth seed Alex Corretja of Spain begins defense of his title with an encounter against Gaston Gaudio of Argentina. Corretja has lost two matches in a row, with his best result a quarterfinal finish at Rotterdam.

In addition, No. 12 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, a winner two weeks ago at Dubai, squares off against Nicolas Massu of Chile, and No. 13 Arnaud Clement of France plays Andrew Ilie of Australia. Clement opened the season by reaching his first career Grand Slam final in Melbourne.

Three-time champion Michael Chang of the United States takes on Carlos Moya of Spain in an unseeded matchup of note. Chang is 26-8 all-time at this event but brings a 1-3 match record into his match against Moya, who is 2-0 lifetime against the American.

This $4.95 million event offers a $330,000 first prize for the women's champion and $400,000 for the men's winner.